Slurp: smart office

In this video I demonstrate how slurp can be used to move digital files between machines over the network. Rather than plug a usb drive into the port that corresponds with a specific file seen on a screen, just suck the file directly off the screen itself. Slurp is used like an eyedropper, it vibrates and displays light to indicate it's state to the user.

Slurp is tangible interface for manipulating abstract digital information as if it were water. Taking the form of an eyedropper, Slurp can extract (slurp up) and inject (squirt out) pointers to digital objects. We have created Slurp to explore the use of physical metaphor, feedback, and affordances in tangible interface design when working with abstract digital media types. Our goal is to privilege spatial relationships between devices and people while providing new physical manipulation techniques for ubiquitous computing environments.

Made by Jamie Zigelbaum, Adam Kumpf, Alejandro Vazquez, and Hiroshi Ishii in the Tangible Media Group http://tangible.media.mit.edu at the MIT Media Lab. See http://zig.media.mit.edu/Work/Slurp for more info and a link to our ACM CHI 2008 paper.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• interaction
• interface
• tags
• data
• locative
• location
• media
• design
• transfer
• location-based
• content
• usb
• files

[zigg1es]

Please note: in this video we simulate a touch screen -- I am moving the mouse with one hand while holding slurp in the other. We did this since we didn't have the proper touch screen available. In the ideal implementation we would use a touch screen that could sense the position of slurp against it to determine x/y location. If you'd like to learn more about the technical implementation there is a peer reviewed paper from CHI '08 and video of the conference presentation.

[zigg1es]

First, thanks for the interest. This project is almost 3 years old -- we built slurp over the summer of 2007 and I can assure you (despite the humor and my taste in music) that it does work. You can read our very academic paper about it (linked to above) for all the details. Slurp isn't about networks, or infrastructure, or even about computers -- it's about material and space. It is not a solution but a question: what is this digital world that we have wrought; how can we touch it?

[HellForgedHand]

GOD DAMMIT

[linkedskate]

lol @ 0:16

[BlackScorpion117]

I TRUSTED WIRED.COM!!! I'd been almost 4 months without being rickrolled, and now this? CURSES

[crispagirl]

interesting..hold on, hold on...he rick rolled us, it's a scam

[Ezz1r]

Thats just scary kewl....lol

[kavilhas1]

@kobubobu loooooooooool

[swefor]

pff

[ultimatefaith2]

@Pokonoinoi never gonna give you up - Rick Astley. Is popularly known as a Rick Roll

[Pokonoinoi]

what's the song at the end?

[ElAdministrador]

crap, that music brings 2girls1cupp memories